David Hoffman. The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror. 1998.

CLAIM: There was more than one bomb at the Murrah building.

EVIDENCE: Eye witness testimonies reported successive blasts. Experts claimed pattern of damage was impossible for single truck bomb. Nearby seismographs recorded two spikes. Confused news coverage after the blast cited multiple devices. Various suspicious figures were seen doing suspicious things at various times.

REVIEWER’S OPINION: This passage—Chapter One—is somewhat compelling.

CLAIM: The ATF was somehow involved in the bombing.

EVIDENCE: Circumstantial.

REVIEW’S OPINION: Whether or not this is true, it makes excellent fiction. It would be a shame if this guy were actually right.

CLAIM: Timothy McVeigh didn't drop out of the military, as publically reported, but instead became a government agent.

EVIDENCE: Why would a promising soldier give up his career?

REVIEWER'S OPINON: I can think of lots of reasons a promising soldier, especially a returning Gulf War veteran, might give up his career, and even become an antigovernment advocate.

CLAIM: Timothy McVeigh was implanted with a microchip by the government.

EVIDENCE: Timothy McVeigh told friends he was implanted with a microchip by the government.

REVIEWER’S OPINION: This is an anecdote from which other reporters have drawn the conclusion that McVeigh was paranoid and delusional, an explanation you don't even consider. You’ve sorely undermined your credibility.

CLAIM: Timothy McVeigh was a government patsy all along.

EVIDENCE: Lee Harvey Oswald was.

REVIEWER’S OPINION: Don’t mix your conspiracy theories.

CLAIM: Michigan Militia short wave radio celebrity Mark Koernke is a government agent, feeding misinformation to the antigovernment movement.

EVIDENCE: “While purporting to rail against what may be genuine plans of a New World Order cabal, Koernke slips in just enough ridiculous disinformation to discredit his thesis, and by association, anyone who supports it.”

REVIEWER'S OPINION: David Hoffman, the author of this book, is a government agent, feeding misinformation to the antigovernment movement.

CLAIM: Timothy McVeigh had been hypnotized.

EVIDENCE: “Interestingly, Richard Condon’s classic play, The Manchurian Candidate, made its debut in Oklahoma City exactly one year after the actual Manchurian candidate potentially made his debut.”

REVIEWER’S OPINON: Something like this needs an endnote practically every sentence. A problem of focus. Mentioning in passing that the CIA had a massive heroin smuggling ring during the Vietnam War. Even if you can prove it, unless you are willing to make your book encyclopedic in length, best not even to mention it. A clear obsession with the Kennedy assassination. A failure to examine or acknowledge alternatives to extreme theories. A manic juggling act in which the juggler throws so many balls in the air that the audience is distracted from seeing them fall to the ground. Couldn't finish. Would be a shame if any of this research on the Oklahoma City bombing is valuable, because it is wasted here.